Can I leave the feed rating on my Harman P61A at the lowest setting. By raising the feed rating, other than use more pellets, what does it accomplish?
Delta-T said:feed adjuster controls the maximum amount of time the auger is allowed to run in any 60 second interval (1 being 10 seconds, 6 being 60)....when there is a call for more heat. Kinda complex to explain, but I suggest 4-4.5 and ignore it. You will not necessarily use less pellets below that nor more pellets above that. Setting it below 3ish and running the stove on low will usually cause the blower to turn off and on occasionally, and if your pellets are longish can lead to a perceived low temp shutdown on occasion. Use the knob with the temp and 1-7 on it to control the stove output and totally ignore the feed adjuster. The "test" function is useful though.
great info delta, but I have found that i do need to lower the feed rate on certain pellets and jack it back up on others...for instance with oakies i got a "cleaner" burn just by lowering the feed to 3.5, and it toned down the flame a bit to a nice "sharp" flame, started to burn vermonts earlier in the week and had to put the feed back up to 4 to get the same results.....just some info on what i noticed is allDelta-T said:it wont, by default, use more pellets on a higher setting, it can, if it thinks it should in order to operate correctly. thing is, theres a finite amount of energy contained in a lb of pellets, theres no way for you to change that, and you are in no way "improving" the efficiency of the machine by trying to make it do so. if your whole object is to just burn the least amount of pellets possible, regardless of the heat then feel free to tun it down, but I assure you, it does not guarantee that you will use less pellets, just that the pellets will feed at strange intervals. In theory, it may be possible to use the least amount of pellets per hour if the feed adjuster is set to 6. its whacky, I know, and sort of counter-intuitive, with it being called the "feed adjuster", but I tell them Harman guys all the time that they need to label it the "please dont turn me knob".
Delta-T said:it wont, by default, use more pellets on a higher setting, it can, if it thinks it should in order to operate correctly. thing is, theres a finite amount of energy contained in a lb of pellets, theres no way for you to change that, and you are in no way "improving" the efficiency of the machine by trying to make it do so. if your whole object is to just burn the least amount of pellets possible, regardless of the heat then feel free to tun it down, but I assure you, it does not guarantee that you will use less pellets, just that the pellets will feed at strange intervals. In theory, it may be possible to use the least amount of pellets per hour if the feed adjuster is set to 6. its whacky, I know, and sort of counter-intuitive, with it being called the "feed adjuster", but I tell them Harman guys all the time that they need to label it the "please dont turn me knob".
HEMI said:great info delta, but I have found that i do need to lower the feed rate on certain pellets and jack it back up on others...for instance with oakies i got a "cleaner" burn just by lowering the feed to 3.5, and it toned down the flame a bit to a nice "sharp" flame, started to burn vermonts earlier in the week and had to put the feed back up to 4 to get the same results.....just some info on what i noticed is allDelta-T said:it wont, by default, use more pellets on a higher setting, it can, if it thinks it should in order to operate correctly. thing is, theres a finite amount of energy contained in a lb of pellets, theres no way for you to change that, and you are in no way "improving" the efficiency of the machine by trying to make it do so. if your whole object is to just burn the least amount of pellets possible, regardless of the heat then feel free to tun it down, but I assure you, it does not guarantee that you will use less pellets, just that the pellets will feed at strange intervals. In theory, it may be possible to use the least amount of pellets per hour if the feed adjuster is set to 6. its whacky, I know, and sort of counter-intuitive, with it being called the "feed adjuster", but I tell them Harman guys all the time that they need to label it the "please dont turn me knob".
dw06 said:Delta-T said:it wont, by default, use more pellets on a higher setting, it can, if it thinks it should in order to operate correctly. thing is, theres a finite amount of energy contained in a lb of pellets, theres no way for you to change that, and you are in no way "improving" the efficiency of the machine by trying to make it do so. if your whole object is to just burn the least amount of pellets possible, regardless of the heat then feel free to tun it down, but I assure you, it does not guarantee that you will use less pellets, just that the pellets will feed at strange intervals. In theory, it may be possible to use the least amount of pellets per hour if the feed adjuster is set to 6. its whacky, I know, and sort of counter-intuitive, with it being called the "feed adjuster", but I tell them Harman guys all the time that they need to label it the "please dont turn me knob".
That's the best I've seen it explained yet! Thanks Delta-T
Delta-T said:feed adjuster controls the maximum amount of time the auger is allowed to run in any 60 second interval (1 being 10 seconds, 6 being 60)....when there is a call for more heat. Kinda complex to explain, but I suggest 4-4.5 and ignore it. You will not necessarily use less pellets below that nor more pellets above that. Setting it below 3ish and running the stove on low will usually cause the blower to turn off and on occasionally, and if your pellets are longish can lead to a perceived low temp shutdown on occasion. Use the knob with the temp and 1-7 on it to control the stove output and totally ignore the feed adjuster. The "test" function is useful though.
Harman Lover 007 said:Delta-T said:feed adjuster controls the maximum amount of time the auger is allowed to run in any 60 second interval (1 being 10 seconds, 6 being 60)....when there is a call for more heat. Kinda complex to explain, but I suggest 4-4.5 and ignore it. You will not necessarily use less pellets below that nor more pellets above that. Setting it below 3ish and running the stove on low will usually cause the blower to turn off and on occasionally, and if your pellets are longish can lead to a perceived low temp shutdown on occasion. Use the knob with the temp and 1-7 on it to control the stove output and totally ignore the feed adjuster. The "test" function is useful though.
OK so I'm confused now. As I understand it, the "feed rate" really doesn't have much effect on these new Harman's with the "smart" board electronics. Depending on what setting you are on whether in stove temp or room temp the ESP senses exhaust temp and automatically adjusts the pellet feed to compensate, thereby making the stove run as efficiently as possible. My feed rate knob most definitely doesn't adjust the amount of time the auger runs. For example, in stove temp mode, with the lower dial(not Feed rate dial) set at 1(which is the lowest), my auger runs for 30 seconds every minute.
I've been baby sitting this stove since I got it because it is nothing like my Harman Invincible that I had for 14 years. I still don't have the control of it that I would like to....and may never be able to get. The bottom line is I am burning more pellets in this new stove than I did in my 14 year old, so called dinosaur to get the same heat. Doesn't make sense.....
Lousyweather said:Harman Lover 007 said:Delta-T said:feed adjuster controls the maximum amount of time the auger is allowed to run in any 60 second interval (1 being 10 seconds, 6 being 60)....when there is a call for more heat. Kinda complex to explain, but I suggest 4-4.5 and ignore it. You will not necessarily use less pellets below that nor more pellets above that. Setting it below 3ish and running the stove on low will usually cause the blower to turn off and on occasionally, and if your pellets are longish can lead to a perceived low temp shutdown on occasion. Use the knob with the temp and 1-7 on it to control the stove output and totally ignore the feed adjuster. The "test" function is useful though.
OK so I'm confused now. As I understand it, the "feed rate" really doesn't have much effect on these new Harman's with the "smart" board electronics. Depending on what setting you are on whether in stove temp or room temp the ESP senses exhaust temp and automatically adjusts the pellet feed to compensate, thereby making the stove run as efficiently as possible. My feed rate knob most definitely doesn't adjust the amount of time the auger runs. For example, in stove temp mode, with the lower dial(not Feed rate dial) set at 1(which is the lowest), my auger runs for 30 seconds every minute.
I've been baby sitting this stove since I got it because it is nothing like my Harman Invincible that I had for 14 years. I still don't have the control of it that I would like to....and may never be able to get. The bottom line is I am burning more pellets in this new stove than I did in my 14 year old, so called dinosaur to get the same heat. Doesn't make sense.....
your feed adjuster actually adjusts the time the feeder CAN run, if it needs to........not how much it DOES run.......kinda like setting a maximum setting, in a worse-case scenario.......